By Brad Gallagher:
During his career Elton John has had 57 songs reach the top 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, second only to Elvis Presley. 27 of those songs reached the top 10. And if that wasn’t enough, nine of those songs peaked at #1.
Those nine songs were, “Crocodile Rock” on February 3, 1973; “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” on January 4, 1975; “Philadelphia Freedom” (one of my personal favorites) on April 12, 1975; “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (with Kiki Dee) on August 7, 1976; “Island Girl” on November 1, 1975; “That’s What Friends Are For” (Donnie & Friends) on January 18, 1986; “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” (with George Michael) on February 1, 1992; “Candle In The Wind 1997” on October 11, 1997; and of course, “Bennie And The Jets” on April 13, 1974.
But, who is Bennie? It is difficult to tell just by listening to the song. In fact, most of the words of the song are next to unintelligible while being sung. Sure, you can make out some of the words, like “B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets”, and “Have you seen them yet?”, and of course “You know I read it in a magazine.” So, what is this song really all about?
As The Story Goes:
Back in the early 1970’s the music industry was going through an odd transformation. It was very popular among rock artists at the time, like David Bowie, Gary Glitter, and of course Elton John to dress up in outlandish costumes and portray themselves as glamorous, eccentric, affluent people. They called it Glam Rock. And during that same time period, a number of books were being published that were exploring science fiction and futuristic societies. And, as it is today, the movie industry was portraying those books on the silver screen. Science fiction was captivating the masses. And Elton John’s friend and song writer, Bernie Taupin, was not to be left behind. Even though all of the music for Bennie And The Jets was written buy Elton John, the words were written by Taupin.
Taupin wanted to create a story which fit with the current sci-fi craze, while at the same time satirizing the 1970’s music industry. In this song, Bennie is a female character who Elton has referred to as a “Sci-fi rock goddess”. The song is about this futuristic rock star and her futuristic all female android band known as “The Jets”, who Taupin says remind him of the robotic models in Robert Palmer’s music video “Addicted To Love”. It is sung from the point of view of a narrator who is a super fan of Bennie.
So, as for the words: The first verse goes like this,
“Hey, kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight’s hitting something
That’s been known to change the weather
We’ll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You’re gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound”
The narrator urges his fellow fans to come out and hear the band play. He tells them how great the band is and how much they will regret not being there. The reference to the fatted calf is a depiction of the wealth and status of the rock stars of the 70’s.
The chorus goes as follows:
“Say, Candy and Ronnie. Have you seen them yet?
Ooh, but they’re so spaced out
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh, Bennie. She’s really keen
She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine, oh
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets”
In this chorus he describes the flashy wardrobe worn by Bennie onstage. Many people over the years have thought he was saying, “She’s got electric boobs”, but no, he says “electric boots, a mohair suit” referring to her outfit. The reference to mohair, which is an expensive wool that takes dies very well, facilitates the flamboyant costume she wore on stage. And Candy and Ronnie are said to be fictitious characters who represent the teeny boppers of the day. It is all wrapped up in the tabloid where he says he “read it in a magazine”. Originally the song was written as just “Bennie and The Jets”, but Elton added the “B-B-B-” in the studio and it stuck.
He goes on in the second verse to describe the ongoing struggle of the youth of that generation who almost worshipped these rock stars while their parents tried as best they could to keep their kids away from their influence. He talks about the conflict between the parents and the kids, and speculates that eventually they will find out who is right and who is wrong.
“Hey, kids, plug into the faithless
Maybe they’re blinded
But Bennie makes them ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
To find who’s right and who’s wrong”
And finally closing the song out with a repeat of chorus:
“Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet?
Ooh, but they’re so spaced out
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh, Bennie. She’s really keen
She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets”
The actual recording of Bennie and the Jet is an interesting story also. The opening chord that Elton plays was said to be totally by accident. He was off his timing a little in the recording studio and hit that chord a moment too soon. However, the producer, Gus Dudgeon turned to the sound engineer and said ” What does that remind you of?” The engineer said that it reminded him of what musicians do on stage to get the audience to quiet down right before they start their set. Just a note or two and the audience quiets down. So, Dudgeon thought, “maybe we should fake a live performance”. And they did. They dubbed in some crowd noise from a show Elton did in 1972 at the Rose Festival Hall in London and made it sound like a live recording even though it is a studio recording. And that is the studio recording that we hear on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album.
Another interesting tidbit is the falsetto voice that is heard in the middle of the refrain. Apparently, Elton John was a big fan of Frankie Valli when he was a kid, and decided to add the high pitched voice into the chorus in honor of Valli, and that is why we hear the falsetto, “Bennie…Bennie…Bennie… Bennie and the Jets” in the chorus.
So click on the link below and enjoy one of rock and roll’s greatest songs. Bennie and The Jets.
And join me right here next time on As The Story Goes.
Click this link to watch Bennie & The Jets live in concert video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hX5fRbsmE8
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AS THE STORY GOES 